“While in town the men encountered Brigadier General Norman D. Cota who was calmly twirling his pistol on his finger. He said to them, ‘Where the hell have [you] been boys?'”
Culture
Posted inCulture
D Company from Roanoke: ‘Only half of the men reached the beach’
“The average time in the water was about an hour and a half. The casualties were large . . .”
Posted inCulture
Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion: Captain ‘was giving an order . . . when a piece of shrapnel went through both cheeks’
“The blood continued to drip down his face and over his shirt from the wound, but he remained with the company and continued to lead it.”
Posted inCulture
E Company from Chase City: Upon landing, ‘a machine gun sprayed the ramp . . .’
“His last words were, ‘take the men off the beach.'”
Posted inCulture
F Company from South Boston: ‘The men reached the high water line without difficulty’
“The detachment remained on the beach for 3 or 4 hours.”
Posted inCulture
G Company from Farmville: ‘The unit was all but neutralized’
“Already wounded in the arm and wrist, [the colonel] rallied a makeshift assault force of soldiers from Companies F, G, and H and led them from the beach through the draw.”
Posted inCulture
H Company from Martinsville: ‘Heavy casualties as its soldiers struggled through the flooding surf’
“The terrifying carnage inflicted on soldiers that had preceded them ashore was impossible to miss.”
Posted inCulture
I Company from Winchester: ‘There were so many bodies on the beach . . .’
“Later he swam out and tried to help some others, but found only dead.”
Posted inCulture
K Company from Charlottesville: ‘They were pinned down by artillery and small arms fire’
While pretending to surrender, “the Germans pulled the old trick of dropping to the ground while a machine gun behind them killed the [Americans]. “
Posted inCulture
L Company from Staunton: Wounded man tells comrade ‘go get ’em’
“Private Shroudy had been dropped by a bullet just before reaching the hole; it came directly at his heart but was stopped and deflected by a half-crown piece in his pocket.”